I'm happy with that list, but considering my needs and his known potential, I could possibly be inclined to grab Beltre ahead of Glaus. The rest of my guys there I'm pretty solid with; and I would not take a flier on Chipper if I could help it. I also have Rolen ranked pretty high, which is risky I know, but I think he's more of a risk to get hurt than actually have decreased production. I feel like that risk is sometimes worth it, given his potential and how shallow 3B is this year (relatively speaking). I'd be perfectly happy taking a risk on Rolen in a middle round and have Inge as my backup, rather than throw all my beans in cup of Chipper Jones or even Melvin Mora.

WittyC wrote:No reason to put Figgins on this list with his 2B eligibility. You would have to have a rock in your skull to pencil him in as your 3B.

There are viable situations where Figgins makes for a good 3B. He did provide more value than any 3B not named ARod. 6 second base eligible players provided more value than Chavez, 8 more than Chipper, 9 more than Blalock. I guess I have a rock in my head. What do you have, rocks for eyes?

Hi! Welcome to the wonderful world of fantasy baseball. Today's lesson: position scarcity.

Third base traditionally offers better offensive numbers than second base when comparing fantasy players (approximately +100 HR, +200 RBI and -100 SB when comparing top 12 3B and 2B from 2005). Therefore, because most leagues require you to start a 2B, a player with less absolute value at 2B will have more relative value than a player with equal stats at 3B. This phenomenon is known as position scarcity. It's a concept you should attempt to master if you plan to play fantasy baseball this year!

Position scarcity makes our friend Chone Figgins more valuable as a second baseman than as a third baseman. Drafting him to play third base would, therefore, make him lose some of that precious value he has as a second baseman.

I hope this information was helpful to you!

Yes I know you think you are better than me.

No I didn't exclude positional scarcity. I said there are some viable situation to have Chone as your 3B. Last year was one of them. Due to positional scarcity, you could of have the #2 3B (Figgins, better than all 3B not named ARod) and the #2 2B (Soriano, who was better than all 3B not named ARod as well) and made 2B ever more scarce for your opponents. So in hindsight, actually the best strategy going in to drafts last year was to take Figgins and Soriano as your 3B and 2B.

ooohhh so whitty

ahh...you beat me to it. i was gonna say, if you have a 2B with some power but not as much speed (Utley...ok he has speed, Kent, Cantu), would you not want a guy like Figgins in your OF or 3B?

i really dont care where i guy plays, i just want a team that gives me enough in every category to win my league

WittyC wrote:No reason to put Figgins on this list with his 2B eligibility. You would have to have a rock in your skull to pencil him in as your 3B.

There are viable situations where Figgins makes for a good 3B. He did provide more value than any 3B not named ARod. 6 second base eligible players provided more value than Chavez, 8 more than Chipper, 9 more than Blalock. I guess I have a rock in my head. What do you have, rocks for eyes?

Hi! Welcome to the wonderful world of fantasy baseball. Today's lesson: position scarcity.

Third base traditionally offers better offensive numbers than second base when comparing fantasy players (approximately +100 HR, +200 RBI and -100 SB when comparing top 12 3B and 2B from 2005). Therefore, because most leagues require you to start a 2B, a player with less absolute value at 2B will have more relative value than a player with equal stats at 3B. This phenomenon is known as position scarcity. It's a concept you should attempt to master if you plan to play fantasy baseball this year!

Position scarcity makes our friend Chone Figgins more valuable as a second baseman than as a third baseman. Drafting him to play third base would, therefore, make him lose some of that precious value he has as a second baseman.

I hope this information was helpful to you!

Yes I know you think you are better than me.

No I didn't exclude positional scarcity. I said there are some viable situation to have Chone as your 3B. Last year was one of them. Due to positional scarcity, you could of have the #2 3B (Figgins, better than all 3B not named ARod) and the #2 2B (Soriano, who was better than all 3B not named ARod as well) and made 2B ever more scarce for your opponents. So in hindsight, actually the best strategy going in to drafts last year was to take Figgins and Soriano as your 3B and 2B.

ooohhh so whitty

Okay... first off... it was a joke, don't go get all sensitive on me. If you tell me I have rocks for eyes or whatever, I'm going to make a smart-ass response. I'm sorry if I offended you or made you feel like I was better than you, which I probably am.

Second, the statement that I made was that it would not be smart to draft him as your starting third baseman this year. You claim that last year was a good situation to take Figgins as a 3B if and only if you took Soriano as your starting 2B. I could certainly see how this would have applied in '05, which was a stronger year for 2B than normal, especially at the top, and was a year when you could grab Figgins in the eighth round or later.

This year it will likely cost you a second-round pick to grab Figgins. If you like his value here as a third baseman relative to guys like M-Cab, Wright and Aramis AND you already grabbed Utley or Soriano in the first round, then I will concede that he is a worthwhile pick.

So while I respect the fact that you found this rare "loophole" to my logic, where someone would rank Utley or Soriano high enough to spend a first-round pick on them, then absolutely value Figgins as highly as M-Cab, Wright and Aramis, then it might make sense to rank him among third baseman.

Perhaps rock in the skull was too strong of a comment, and to anyone who would feel comfortable drafting Figgins as a third baseman, as per the scenario laid out, I apologize. Anyone else would be better off leaving him off their 3B rankings.